


Come, My Prince.

by TallyDubh



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, BDSM, Bondage, But he can be a fool, Canon-Typical Violence, Chocolate, Collar, D/s, Death Threats, Dom!Thor, Drama, Elbow binding, F/M, Frigga (Marvel) Lives, Nipple Clamps, Post-Thor: The Dark World, Praise Kink, Pregnant Sex, Safe Sane and Consensual, Shopping, Size Kink, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Spanking, Thor Is Not Stupid, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Unplanned Pregnancy, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-14 03:52:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11774913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallyDubh/pseuds/TallyDubh
Summary: Thor spends the night with a friend when that itch in his hands becomes too much to ignore. She expects nothing of him but what he wants to give her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I noticed that all of the smut that I had published was very... tame. I felt the driving need to fix it, and this is what happened.

Thor blinked slowly, allowing his vision to adjust to the bright sunlight. It had been night when he’d left Asgard, nearly Midnight in fact. But the sun blazed overhead here on Alfheim. Not hot enough to be uncomfortable, but warm enough that the woman standing before him didn’t need a cloak over her nearly transparent gown. Layers of soft green and cream fluttered as she dropped into a deep curtsy at seeing him. 

“Your Highness, you honor me with your presence,” Her voice was deeper than expected, a shock every time he heard it. It flowed like thick honey and sent his heart pounding a little harder in his chest. A soft smile lifting his lips, Thor let Mjölnir swing loose on her leather strap and approached the woman. Placing his forefinger under her chin, he urged her to straighten. Taking both of her hands in his, he bent over them and kissed her palms softly. 

“It’s I who am honored, Meira. As I always am, that such a beauty would bend to my whim.” Her soft chuckle flowed through him and he felt himself relax somewhat. She was his friend, someone he could simply be himself with. She held no expectations of him, demanded nothing from him but what he offered to her. Straightening, he pressed a kiss to her cheek and offered her his arm. Even as she laid her delicate fingers on his wrist, he marveled at her. 

No matter how many times he saw her, he was still punched breathless by her. Her silver hair was loose today, swinging in a sheet of silken metal to her knees, and her purple eyes shown like amethysts in the bright sun. They spoke softly to each other as he escorted her back to the temple. Thor told her of his mother’s recovery from her injuries sustained by the Dark Elves, Meira told him of her sister and the child she’d had a month before. 

“How is Lady Jane?” Meira asked as they climbed the stairs to the entrance of the temple. Thor sighed and tried not to let the heart hurt into his voice. 

“She has found her soulmate, and they are doing very well. I still count her among my dearest friends.” He failed because she leaned against his side briefly in comfort. He had no mark, no symbol or words on his skin, and at nearly a thousand years old, he’d stopped looking to see if one had appeared. 

“I’m sorry to hear that. I know that you cared for her.” Meira nodded at the attendants who held the doors open for them, and they passed into the cool shade of the temple interior. They passed by other Consorts as they made their way to Meira’s chambers, some of them practicing dancing, others music. The crooning song one young man coaxed from a metal bowl filled the space, and Thor and Meira fell silent as they passed. 

Before long the sounds of the temple faded into near silence as Meira’s thick chamber door closed behind them. Meira patted his wrist before moving further into the room, disappearing behind a curtain as he turned to the armor rack next to him. He was only part of the way through stripping away his armor when long delicate fingers joined him again. 

Turning to Meira after the last of it was settled on the rack, he caught his breath. She’d removed her gown while she was gone, and she stood before him in nothing but her hair. His fingers itched, to mark her pale skin, to lose himself in her. 

“Come, My Prince, let me kneel at your feet.” Her words were whispered, coaxing him to follow her deeper into her chambers. She guided him to a couch, high backed and intricately carved. Red silk cushions covered the hardness of the dark wood, a subtle pattern of flowers was embroidered a few shades darker than the silk. Thor pulled his shirt over his head and laid it over the stool in front of her vanity before he settled onto the couch. On a low table next to the couch a collection of things were laid out, all at his fingertips and all he’d used before. 

Meira lowered herself to her knees between his feet, and he let his knees hang open around her. He watched her for a few moments, allowing the peace that she spent so much time cultivating in her chambers to seep into his bones. This was a sanctuary, a space where there were only the demands both participants wanted, where Thor wasn’t the crown prince of Asgard. Where he was not an Avenger, where he was not responsible for thousands of people's lives but still required to bow to his father’s whim. And that’s really what chaffed, that lack of control. Other’s expected so much from him, yet he had no real control of his life. His parents were in deep negotiations with Vanaheim for a political marriage for him, The Avengers expected him to always be there to help them, and all of the Nine Realms looked to him as the next ruler. 

But here, none of that touched him, he could leave it at the door and not worry about any of it for the time he was with Meira. She expected only pleasure from him, something he was more than happy to provide. He pressed the rest of it aside and gazed down at Meira. She had removed his boots and stockings and was in the middle of washing his feet. He’d asked her once why she insisted on this, before anything else. She’d refused to answer, and he hadn’t asked again. 

Turning back to the collection of items set to his right, he let his fingers trail over them. He knew that she had more toys stored away somewhere, but these were all he ever wanted. Silken rope, and delicate silver shackles laid beside a thin silver collar. The metal of the collar was engraved with flowers, a single amethyst hung from it. A black silk blindfold cushioned a pair of nipple clamps with a chain connecting them alongside a heavy wooden hairbrush.  

Meira was drying his left foot with a soft cloth when he leaned forward. At his movement she looked up at him, a soft smile lifting her lips when the metal of the collar closed around her throat with a soft snick. Thor watched as her pupils blew out wide and the last of the tension in her shoulders melted away. He cupped the back of her neck to keep her from slumping over, some dark part of himself purring in pleasure at how much she trusted him. 

“Meira, turn around and face away from me.” He was not surprised that his voice came out husky and low, no more than he was surprised that she scrambled to obey his command. Thor took his time gathering her hair, letting the soft light from the candles spark off it. The first time he’d seen her, he’d assumed her hair would be stiff and brittle. It looked as if someone had spun silver wire out into hair, but it was as soft as the silk of the cushion under him and warm. Once he had the thick mass in his hands, he laid it over his thigh and reached for the hairbrush. 

Meira moaned low at the first drag of the brush through her hair and that sound caused a knot of tension in Thor’s stomach to loosen. He allowed every swipe of the brush through her thick hair to loosen it further, until it finally unknotted and disappeared. Setting the brush to the side, he dug his hands into that shining silver mass and began to braid it. Nothing extravagant, just a simple rope down the middle of her back to keep it out of the way as they played. Once he reached the end, he laid the braid over her shoulder and gripped her upper arms gently. 

“You are being very good for me, I expect you to continue to be. I’m going to tie your arms now. You  _ will  _ tell me if it’s too tight.” His voice was deeper than normal, and the scent of ozone was teasing at his nose. Thor’s eyes caught the ripple of gooseflesh that spread across Meira’s back, and a dark smile flitted over his face. 

“Yes, My Prince.” Meira’s voice was husky and cracked slightly, and a thrill raced through his body as he felt his cock take notice. His movements were smooth and practiced as he wove the silk rope around and through her arms. Starting just above her elbows, he pulled them together until her chest thrust out and her breathing had sped up. His own heart was pounding in his chest like a drum by the time he tied the final knot and was reaching for the shackles. A strangled gasp sounded from Meira when he’d threaded the shackles through a loop in the rope and closed them snugly around her wrists. 

“Good girl, I want to hear your pleasure.” He murmured it against the curve of her shoulder. Pressing a kiss there, he let his fingers trail softly down her chest. Meira whined when his fingertips stopped just short of brushing over her peaked nipples. She tried to thrust her breasts into his hands, but he pulled away before she could. Sitting back on the couch, Thor waited until she’d calmed enough to sit back on her heels once more. Once she’d stopped squirming he took a deep breath through his nose and groaned. The scent of her excitement was a rich complement to the smell of lightning that filled the room. 

“Stand up, and face me, Meira.” She moved slowly, wobbling slightly once she’d gotten her feet under her. He kept a close eye on her, ready to catch her if she swayed too far, but they both knew he expected her to do it on her own. To show him how strong she was, how worthy of his attention she was. Thor knew that he’d never be worthy of this woman. 

Her eyes were heavy lidded, and a soft pink flush had darkened her skin all the way down to her nipples. Her breathing was steady, but Thor could see her pulse jumping in her throat. He reached out, touching just below her navel with only his fingertips. Meira leaned into his touch, and Thor dragged a deep groan from her as he pressed his whole hand against her soft belly. Slowly, reveling in the velvety softness of her skin, he slid his hand up her torso. Between her breasts, over her clavicles until he could wrap his fingers around her throat. 

“So responsive, Meira.” He murmured it as he tightened his grip. Carefully, so he didn’t dig the metal of the collar into her, he squeezed until she moaned again. He kept his grip there, steady as he cupped her butt in his other hand and sucked one creamy nipple into his mouth. Thor spent time there, alternating between laving it with the flat of his tongue, sucking hard and biting. By the time he altered his hold on her to give him access to her other nipple she was panting again, and her legs were trembling. All the while he kept his eyes trained on her face, watching her as he pleased her. With the first sobbing plea, he sat back and contemplated her. 

Meira’s breath hitched at the loss of his touch, but she bit her lip before she could beg him to touch her. It was part of the game, part of the push and pull that allowed this to work between them. He had certain expectations of her, ones that she’d learned from the many times he’d come to her bed. She had certain expectations of him, ones that he was more than willing to meet. 

“Do you want the clamps, Meira?” He asked, reaching over and toying with the chain that connected them together. Her body went still for a moment, she even held her breath, before it rushed out of her as she nodded. Thor waited, she knew better. After a moment she took a deep breath and spoke in a strangled voice. 

“Yes, please, My Prince.” He smiled for her and lifted the clamps. Meira cried out when the first clamp tightened down on her nipple and then sobbed brokenly with the second. Thor cupped her hips in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over her hip bones to soothe her as he waited. It took several moments as tears slid down her cheeks, but finally, she had herself under control. He never liked to see her tears, but he would not deny her whatever satisfaction she drew from this. He’d allowed her to use the clamps on him in the past, it wasn’t to his liking. 

“I think I’ll leave the blindfold off, tonight. Come here, Meira lay across my lap.” He guided her gently, simply supporting her while she did it herself. Slowly, with care to the stimulation already assaulting her body, she laid over his lap. Once she was settled, he petted her softly, feeling his cock fill at the sight of her ass on display for him. This right here was what he liked, and he savored it. Tearing his eyes away from her body, he met her gaze and smiled softly. 

She had turned her face to him, instead of pressing it into the cushions, and her dark eyes were filled with lust and need and understanding. He contorted himself until he could kiss her softly because that look was enough to jerk at his heart. This was why he came to her when this itch became insistent because she knew him better than any others could. She would never try to trap him with an unwanted pregnancy, she would never tell his secrets, or make him feel dirty for the things he wanted. In this dimly lit room, they were equals, no matter that he was the one giving orders. 

“Thank you, Meira.” He spoke it in a broken whisper against her lips and then sat up again. 

“Anytime, My Prince.” She replied, wriggling into a more comfortable position. Thor’s breath caught in his chest at that wriggle, because it caused her belly to grind against the erection still trapped inside his pants. He wasn’t ready for that yet, so he wrapped her braid around his left hand twice and pulled. Her back arched further until her throat was fully displayed and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. 

Thor waited a beat, letting the anticipation build around them before the palm of his right hand landed on her ass with a sharp crack. Meira cried out, and Thor whimpered softly at the sound. Another blow landed, and it knocked something tight in his chest loose. He didn’t allow himself to get completely lost in it, he couldn’t. He had to keep his strength in check, he couldn’t land too many strikes or she’d be too hurt for sex. But he knew that neither of them would feel fully satisfied if he used too little strength or too few blows. Thor knew where that razor edge was, and he walked it in a way that sent a thrill down his spine. 

He paused several times, to rub some of the sting out of her ass, and to press thick fingers between her legs. Thick wetness met his touch and he grinned with satisfaction. Thor only stopped when she’d screamed out his name, not his title as she came undone in his lap. By that time he was clinging to his own composure by his fingertips, and his cock throbbed almost painfully. Loosening his grip on her hair, he allowed her to relax across his lap. His eyes on her face, he petted her with his fingertips, stroking them down the back of her thighs and dipping them between them to stroke gently across her clit. He would allow her to recover from her orgasm, but he wanted her still wound up tight. He was far from done with her. 

Meira’s dark eyes blinked open after several minutes and Thor grinned at her. She gave him a drunken grin in return, but she pressed her hips back into his hand the next time he pressed against her clit. Chuckling, Thor lifted her off his lap enough for him to open his pants and shove them down his thighs. His erection sprang free, and Meira’s eyes zeroed in on it. He had to swallow at the look of hunger on her face when she licked her lips. 

“Is that what you want, Meira? Do you want me to fuck you?” He helped her sit up then, shifting until she straddled his thighs and her breasts were in his face once more. 

“Please, My Prince, please fuck me.” Her eyes glinted in the low light, and a wicked grin graced her beautiful face as she looked down at him. Thor chuckled softly, loving her sass. 

“If that’s what my good girl wants, and you are. You’ve been such a good girl. You took your spanking so well, let me play until I was ready to stop.” Thor cupped her hip in one hand, even as they other followed the same path up her body from her belly once again. He stopped short of her throat though, hooking a single finger on the chain that swung with her breathing. Giving it a soft tug he watched as she threw her head back and moaned loudly. Suddenly desperate, Thor fumbled on the table next to him until he found the small pot of slick that he’d missed earlier. He tipped some of the thick oil into his palm and reached down to coat his cock. 

Meira watched and panted as he slicked himself up, crying out sharply when two of his oil covered fingers plunged inside of her pussy. When he was satisfied, he gripped the base of his cock with one hand and guided her down with the other on her hip. The first two inches went in with ease, and Meira’s soft whine was enough to bring him back into his own head. It gave him enough control to stop and breathe, to slow down. Thor palmed her hips, knowing that his grip on them would leave bruises and smiling at the fact. He wanted to leave marks on her perfect skin. 

“Never… fails to be a fight, My Prince.” Meira hissed out through gritted teeth as she pressed herself down onto him. He knew that he was large, that not all women would be able to take him at all. It was just another thing that he appreciated about Meira. That she saw the size of his cock as a challenge, one that she refused to fail. 

Thor tipped his head back against the couch, panting through his nose like a winded horse as that silken sheath slid down his cock an inch at a time. When she’d taken nearly all of it, only an inch or two left, she stopped. 

“Fuck… fuck fuck fuck…,” she was chanting the curse under her breath softly, her eyes tightly closed as her breath came in heaving gulps. Thor lifted his head to look at her, his eyes blazing with want. 

“You can take it, can’t you Meira? I know you can, you’ve done it before. And I know you want it all, every inch.” Meira’s eyes snapped open and met his at his words. Leaning forward he pressed open mouthed kisses under her ear as he continued to speak into it. “You’re my good girl, and I know you can take it all.” Thor scraped his teeth against the sensitive spot where her shoulder met her neck. Her breath caught as her pussy fluttered and she sank the last two inches. Thor huffed out through his nose, his teeth digging in at the feeling of her completely surrounding him, even as she went rigid in his lap. 

Thor held her against him gently, careful of the clamps and the bindings on her arms as she settled. When he realized that she wasn’t going to calm any more than she already had he sat back against the couch again, letting his hands settle on her hips. She was trembling, her head hung low, and she didn’t seem to notice the soft whimpering noises she was making with every breath. 

“Do you still wish to continue, Meira?” He asked, stroking her hip bone with a thumb. The look she gave him through her lashes would have flayed him to the bone if looks had that power, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at it. The chuckle jarred his cock inside her and they both whimpered this time.

“Yes, My Prince. I still wish for you to fuck me senseless.” Huffing softly in amusement, Thor gripped her hips more securely and lifted her off him a few inches. The slick, tight slide had his eyelids fluttering, even as Meira moaned above him. He started slowly, just rolling his hips up, but it didn’t last, it never did. As her sounds grew more pleasured and less pained, he added more force, more speed to the movements of his hips. 

He didn’t know how long he fucked up into her, how long she danced in his lap for him before she broke apart above him with a wordless scream. She clamped down around him like a vice, and though he fought against it, with a roaring that filled his ears he followed her into oblivion. He came back to himself to find her leaned forward, her forehead pressed against his shoulder as they panted. Thor took a moment, to catch his breath before he began to untie her arms. A broken groan was Meira’s only response as he opened the shackles and began to unwind the rope. She’d have bruises on her arms he realized, and that dark part of him purred in satisfaction. He knew that she wasn’t his, not for more than a night at a time, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to mark her as such on some base level. He let the rope slide to the floor as he rubbed her shoulders softly.

“Meira, I’m going to take the clamps off now.” He said it into her hair because she hadn’t done much more than slide her arms around his neck once they were free. She whimpered, but he felt her nod stiffly. He did it quickly, like removing a thorn, and he held her tightly to him after her scream had finished echoing through the room. 

Holding her against him, not allowing his still hard cock to slip from inside her, Thor stood from the couch. He carefully stepped out of his pants before he moved toward the large canopy bed. Meira groaned luxuriously as she sank into the goose down mattress, letting her arms flop down above her head. Thor chuckled softly at her, even as he hooked her knees over his elbows, braced his knees as best he could on the bed and pressed deeper into her. 

Meira whined and tossed her head at the pleasure, but she was fully and truly cock drunk by now. It was exactly how Thor wanted her. Turning his head when her calf landed on his shoulder, he set his teeth in the thick muscle as he fucked her, slow and steady into the mattress. She was fully open to him now, relaxed enough to allow him full movement inside her, instead of the small deep thrusts he’d been using on the couch. This, this he allowed himself to get lost in because there was very little danger of truly hurting her. He  _ wanted  _ to be slow, and gentle with her, he  _ wanted _ to coax pleasure out of her in a way that didn’t involve pain. So he lost himself in the ebb and flow of his thrusts, in the smell of lightening and honey musk in the air. Lost himself in the sounds she made as he brought her to orgasm again and again. 

But it didn’t last, it never lasted, because his body wanted release as well. And even though the sun was setting by the time his need for release seized him, he tried to hold it off. Thor knew his body, knew it very well, and he knew that he would not be able to stop himself coming again for long. But he could make her come one last time before then, even if she shook her head when his thumb landed on her clit. 

“One more, Meira. Just give me one more. Come with me, I’m so close.” He dropped one of her legs to the bed and leaned over her to catch her lips with his own. Her hands dug into his hair, and she kissed him back with passion as he pushed her further. 

With one knee hooked over his upper arm, his hand trapped between their bodies, and Thor holding his weight off her with one arm, Meira thrashed beneath him. She wouldn’t tell him no, even though she knew she could stop this with a single word. But she didn’t want it to stop, she wanted to feel him come undone over her, in her. So she slid her hands down his back and dug her nails into his ass, clutching him to her as she felt the coil tighten inside her. 

“I want to feel your pussy clamp down around my cock one last time, Meira. I want to feel you break apart in my arms. I want to know that I gave you as much pleasure as I physically could. So please, Meira. Come. Come now.” And she did. With a broken scream of his name, she came harder than she had all night. Thor tumbled over the edge with her, roaring wordlessly as he emptied himself inside her. It seemed to go on and on until time lost all meaning. His awareness came back slowly. He found himself panting hard, even if he somehow managed to keep himself from collapsing on top of her as he blinked the spots out of his eyes. 

Gingerly, knowing he daren’t wait till she’d calmed completely, Thor disengaged the two of them and finally allowed himself to collapse on the bed next to her. It didn’t take but a moment for her to crawl over the top of him, lying sprawled across his chest as she trembled. With gentle fingers, Thor shook her hair loose from its braid, finger combing it until it was a warm, soft blanket over them both. A brush of his fingertip and a touch of intent had the collar around her neck opening and Thor tossed it off the bed. 

“May I stay, Meira?” He would leave if she asked, but he hoped that she would let him stay. He didn’t want to leave yet. 

“You know better, Thor. You’re not allowed to leave until after breakfast.” She spoke around a wide yawn. Sighing in relief, Thor stretched languidly on the bed. His whole body was heavy, and loose limbed, relaxed. Using care, Thor coaxed Meira to lay on the mattress instead of him, and then he slipped from the bed. He didn’t bother to cover himself as he padded around the room. He found the bruise cream on her vanity, right where it’d been the last time he was there. The drying cloths were stacked neatly under the basin. A pull of the rope hanging next to the basin had a servant knocking on the door with a jug of warm water within minutes. 

The servant didn’t react at all to his nudity when he answered the soft knock, and even though it dinged his ego, he was also thankful for the discretion. And the platter of cheese, fruit, and jug of chilled water that came with the washing water. Supplies gathered, Thor returned to Meira, humming happily at finding her half asleep on the bed, right where he’d left her. He took his time in cleaning between her legs and rubbing the bruise cream into her skin. 

It took much longer to coax her into drinking half the water the servant had brought, though he was able to get her to eat all of the grapes and several bites of sharp white cheese before she turned her nose up at the food. He finished the platter off and left the dishes on the floor outside her chamber doors before sliding into bed with her again. Pulling the covers over them both, he huffed out a chuckle when she crawled back over the top of him. This was his favorite way to sleep, with Meira sprawled out with her nose pressed against his throat and his hand dug deep into the thick mass of her hair. 

Thor stuffed his other hand under his head and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep for the first time in a long time. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor reacts badly to some unexpected news.

 

Thor woke sluggishly the next morning, a weight on his chest and hair in his face. It took him a moment to remember where he was, but once he had he couldn’t help but smile. He let his hands roam as he waited for Meira to wake, playing gently with her hair and watching the sun send sparks of color across the room from the crystals hanging in the window. It didn’t take her long. 

Breakfast was closer to lunchtime, being put off until after he bathed her and rubbed more of the bruise cream into the marks he’d left on her the night before. The one on her calf was a dark purple, and they both grinned wickedly when they saw it. They sat at the small table in her sitting room to eat. He had a hard time concentrating because she’d slid his shirt on over her nakedness and it did very little to cover her. It was tight across her bust and snug on her hips, though it hung to her mid-thigh and the sleeves were too long. All of that shining silver hair was tamed by a pair of hair combs with a beaded lace net connecting them. He wouldn’t lie and say he didn’t miss it framing her body. It was while they ate fat sausages wrapped in flaky pastry that their conversation turned to something serious. Sighing, Thor sat back in his chair and contemplated his mug of strong tea. 

“My parents are negotiating with Vanaheim, a political marriage between myself and Princess Garfesli.” He pursed his lips as he glared down into his mug, trying not to allow the topic to sour the mood. Meira popped a grape into her mouth and chewed for a moment before answering. 

“What’s wrong with Princess Garfesli?” Her voice was bland, but when Thor’s eyes shot up to glare at her he saw mischief hiding in her purple eyes. Chuckling, Thor shook his head and set his tea down. 

“Garfesli is a wonderful woman. Kind, intelligent, beautiful… and her girlfriend would cut my head off and ride through Asgard with it on the end of her very sharp sword if I did so much as kiss her hand for too long. Sif is… possessive.” Thor joined Meira in laughter when she put her fork down and clutched at her stomach. When they sobered, Meira asked the question that he’d been trying not to think of. 

“Why would Sif’s claim on the Princess be more important than a marriage? You’re both royalty, no matter how much your parents spoil you, your duty is still to the realm.” Meira looked saddened by this, and Thor looked at her for a long moment before he answered. 

“Sif is Garfesli’s soulmate. They found one another when the Princess came to Asgard so that we may meet before the marriage contract could be negotiated. I know only because I was in the room when it happened. I believe that Garfesli’s parents are keeping it quiet from my own, in hopes of the marriage and power boost they’d receive with it.” Thor failed once again to keep the heart hurt out of his voice, but it was impossible to hide such things from Meira. Before he’d managed to clear the lump from his throat his lap was full of her again as she hugged him. Thor returned the hug and relaxed into her care. 

Before he was ready, he was calling for Heimdall and straining to get one final look at Meira before the Bifrost stole him back to his life and all the pressures of it. He kissed his mother on her cheek when she greeted him outside the study his father had summoned him to, and she returned his smile with an understanding glint in her eye. But she’d never judge him for his indulgences. 

Thor had decided that he would inform his father of Sif and Garfesli’s relationship, and even the rage that knowledge sent his father into did nothing to dampen the good mood Thor was floating on the rest of the week. Between training with the Warriors Three, the calls to Assemble from Midgard and trying to convince his parents he didn’t want to marry unless it was for love, almost two months had passed before Thor realized. 

And the itch was back, not as bad as it had been in the past, but enough that he sent a message to Meira about coming and staying the night. Her own letter arrived the following day by a carrier, and he cracked the seal eagerly. His eyes raced across the words, and the smile wilted on his face, quickly replaced with concern. She’d been ill and wasn’t up to their usual games. If he still wished to come stay with her, she was amiable, but it would be a quiet visit. 

The Bifrost left him blinking in the bright sun once again, and when the spots finally cleared he found Meira waiting for him just as before. She even wore the same gown as the last time he stood there, though it didn’t fit her nearly as well as it had last time. A quick glance was enough to show that she’d lost weight, and even though she was still curvy, her face was gaunt in a way that he’d never seen it before. Worry gnawed at his stomach, even as Meira curtsied to him. 

“Your Highness, you honor me with your presence.” Thor sighed but followed their own little ritual as best he could. He knew that his brows were furrowed when he urged her to look at him, but he still pressed kisses to her palms as always. 

“It is I who am honored, Meira. As I always am to be allowed to take your time away from others.” He offered his arm but insisted she tuck her hand into his elbow instead of simply lay her fingers on his wrist. She seemed a little shaky on her feet, and the walk to her chambers was a quiet one. 

When the door to her chambers closed behind them, Thor wasted no time in lifting her into his arms. She cried out at the sudden move but quieted as he carried her through the sitting room and into the bedroom. Thor laid her down on the bed with great care, not at all happy with how light she was in his arms. He slid her thin silk slippers off her feet and let them fall to the floor, and snagged the thin afghan off the foot of the bed to lay over her legs and lap. 

“Meira… if I had known how weak you were…” he murmured it, lifting one of her hands in both of his to press it to his lips. Meira cupped his cheek with her free hand and chuckled wetly. 

“Thor, I’m not going to die. I’ve just been ill. It’ll pass.” Thor looked at her incredulously, running his thumb along the sharp line of her cheekbone. Meira leaned into his touch and sighed, some of the tension in her shoulders melting away now that he was there. 

“Meira… I can see that you have lost weight, please do not try to hide this from me. You are my friend and I worry.” When she didn’t reply he sighed but let it go. She’d either tell him or not, but for now, he was determined to pamper her tonight. He would get just as much satisfaction in feeding her and soaking in a hot bath with her as he would with turning her over his knee and fucking her. It wouldn’t be the first time. He’d just reached out to pull the rope to summon a servant when her small voice sounded behind him and his heart stopped in his chest. 

“I’m… pregnant.” It was not the words that had him feeling like he couldn’t breathe, though they were powerful enough on their own, it was the terror in her voice as she said them that had a stone dropping into his stomach. Thor turned back to look at her, taking a half a step toward the bed before he could find his voice enough to speak again. 

“Meira, why are you frightened? Is this not good news?” He kept his voice low, and as soothing as he could make it because Meira looked as if she’d bolt at the first loud sound. Whatever was happening here, Thor felt a protective rage building in his chest, and he hoped that his friend would tell him who’d scared her so that he could kill them for her. 

A breeze blew the thin curtains away from the window enough that a shaft of light fell on Meira’s form on the bed. She was trembling, and he could only see it because the light shimmered in her hair. Her pupils were blown out with fear, only a thin ring of vibrant purple surrounding the black, and her lips had gone pale in her face. Her delicate fingers were gripping the rich grey afghan to her chest as if it would protect her from whatever was scaring her. 

He watched her take a deep breath and put some more steel into her spine, her chin coming up and her fingers relaxing a little on the blanket. Those beautiful purple eyes met his and what she said next was like a cold winter wind blowing through him. 

“You’re the father.” Some small part of him was suddenly very frightened of the calm that spread through him. Though, perhaps that numb calm was better than the tangle of roiling emotions that were threatening to boil out of his stomach. Betrayal, anger, sadness and of all things joy had what food was left from his dinner threatening to return. His voice was tight with anger when he finally forced it out of his mouth. 

“I see…” He had opened his mouth to say more, what he wasn’t sure, but Meira froze his tongue with a soft broken noise he wasn’t sure she meant to make. The fear was still there to see, clear as day, though the shimmer on her hair had vanished as dark clouds gathered in the sky. A rumble of distant thunder made Thor realize he was losing his grip on his magic. 

“I didn’t... I would never try to trap you. But you have a right to know about the...“ she stopped trying to speak when her voice broke and her breath stuttered. Thor opened his mouth to speak, and stopped once again, taking deep even breaths instead in an attempt at reining in his temper. 

“We have shared a bed thousands of times, Meira. And you’ve never gotten pregnant before. In fact, I know you haven’t because I can prevent a babe from catching in you. So how…” He stopped again, panting with the fight to keep himself in check. The betrayal in his gut was a sour, acidic ball that was climbing up into his chest. Meira straightened then, seeming to steady a little with some decision she’d come to. 

“I don’t know how this babe came to be, how it managed to catch in my belly when the best healers at this temple infuse my daily tea to prevent it, and when you yourself work toward stopping it. But know this, Your Highness, no matter how much I don’t want to lose your friendship, I will not sacrifice  _ my child _ for it.” Thor stared into her eyes, and let the fire in her smother the acid in his chest. He knew she spoke the truth, could taste it in the chilling air around them. She didn’t get pregnant on purpose, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t pregnant. 

“I think I should leave. Before I say something I will regret tomorrow.” Meira nodded sharply at his words and kept her tongue between her teeth as he hurried from her chambers. He could feel his heart breaking in his chest, and the loneliness he’d felt since he’d realized what being a prince meant started pressing in around him. 

Meira was the only one who treated him as a person. The only one of his friends who didn’t bow and scrape to him because he was a prince. She knelt at his feet because she knew she was powerful enough to get up anytime she wished. She bowed to his whim because it was a game they both enjoyed playing. She was his only true friend, and he wasn’t certain he could say that anymore.

As soon as her chamber doors closed behind him, Meira collapsed across her bed sobbing. Tears soaked into the fur and silk under her, even as she curled herself into a tight ball, hugging her stomach. He was the only one who saw her as a person, saw every part of her. She wasn’t just a hole to fuck, or a shoulder to cry on, or a chest to dump all of his problems onto. They could talk, really talk about everything that was going on in their lives. Thor was the only person she could laugh with. He was her only friend, and he’d walked away from her. 

Thor moved through a thick haze, his mind whirling with the conversation he just had, even as his body continued onward. He’d didn’t remember moving through the temple, or even getting back to the Bifrost landing zone. All he could hear was the sobs that had drifted out of her chambers after the door was closed, all he could see was her sitting there trembling with fear of him. Before he could pull himself together the Bifrost surrounded him and he was headed back to Asgard.

Stumbling on the landing because he wasn’t paying attention, Thor barely kept his feet under him as the gold walls of the observation dome swam in front of him. When he’d managed to focus on what was around him, he found Heimdall standing an arm's length away from him with his thick arms crossed over his armored chest. 

“You are a fool.” The Guardian’s voice was not unkind, but he still looked down his nose at him with an air of exasperation hovering around him. Thor grunted and went to move around the Guardian, too lost in his own emotions to try and deal with another person right that moment. But as he drew level with Heimdall, a hand covered in armor landed smartly across the back of Thor’s head. It was like someone had flipped a switch and he could think again. He could breathe again, and he realized that the room wasn’t swimming around him, he had tears clouding his vision. 

“Are you so certain that this wasn’t exactly what you wanted? Because I know of no magic that can overpower the innate gift of the Crown Prince of Asgard. Do you?” Heimdall’s voice was barely loud enough for Thor to hear. Before the prince could fully understand what it was that the Guardian was saying, Heimdall had moved off to stare out at the other realms. The taller man looked for all the world as if he hadn’t just dumped a bilgesnipe sized revelation onto the swirling head of his prince. 

Thor stumbled a few steps before his knees gave out and he slid down the wall. And before he knew what was happening the tears had spilled over and were dripping off his chin and nose. Meira was his only real friend, and he’d just walked away from her. He’d abandoned her when it was clear that it was the one thing that would hurt her the most. And maybe, just maybe, it was his fault that she was pregnant in the first place. All of the air rushed out of his lungs when that thought formed shining and clear in his mind. Meira was pregnant, with his child.  _ His child.  _

He was going to be a father. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor rushes back to Meira's side, but what he finds rocks him to his core.

He was going to be a father. 

It echoed through his mind, rang with the clarity of a bell being struck. And nothing else mattered, his pride, his crown, nothing mattered as much as getting back to Meira and fixing what he’d broken. He wasn’t certain it was possible to fix it, but he has to try. Centuries of pride and temper hadn’t broken it as surely as his implication that Meira was a lesser person that she was. 

How he could have thought that of her, after everything the two of them had been through together, he didn’t know. Perhaps he was as stupid as Loki kept insisting he was. But there was time, wasn’t there? To learn? To change? There had to be. 

Surging back to his feet, not bothering to wipe the tears from his cheeks, Thor rushed to Heimdall’s side and gripped the other man’s arm tightly. 

“Send me back. I have to go back. I have to fix… I have to apologize.” Even to his own ears, Thor’s voice sounded desperate and frantic. But he didn’t care, his pride be damned, he would do whatever he needed to. The Guardian regarded him for several long moments before striding back to the Bifrost controls and slamming his sword into it. Thor opened his mouth to thank him and was interrupted. 

“Go! She needs you.” Heimdall gestured him away, and Thor nodded before rushing into the swirling portal. He landed hard in the grassy field and was running before his vision had adjusted to the blazing sunlight. The temple, a place that was normally serene and calm looked as if someone had kicked the anthill. People in lavender ran down the hallways, while Consorts and their guests flattened themselves against the walls to let them pass. No one wanted to get in the way of healers when they moved that quickly. Thor fell into step behind one, using the hole they’d cleared in the corridor to help him reach Meira’s chambers more quickly. 

His heart froze in his chest when the young man in a lavender tunic he’d been following rushed into Meira’s room, a heavy satchel swinging from his shoulder. Thor pressed the panic that had rushed forward and blanked his mind to the side and tried to move into the room in front of him, but was stopped by a thickly built woman. Her copper hair was shorn close to her scalp on the sides, the top hanging in a cascade of loose curls to her waist. 

“I don’t think so, Laddie. Ye’ll not be going in there.” Thor stumbled back several steps as she crowded into his personal space. She never touched him, simply moved and expected him to give way. By the time he’d figured out what she was doing he was across the corridor and she’d firmly closed the door behind her. Embarrassment flushed his cheeks as a snicker was heard from down the corridor, and Thor can see why. She barely comes up to his waist, had to crane her head far enough back it looks painful to see his face. But there’s something about her that has him backing down in a second, Prince or not. 

“I need to talk to her. I need to… I need to talk to her.” He mutters it, trying to side step around her. But she simply plants herself in his path and her fists on her ample hips. Even though she’s tiny, even though he could lift her with one hand and set her to the side, she’s still able to look down her nose at him. Her regard was not kind, and it wasn't forgiving in any way. 

“Oh. I don’t doubt it. But ye’ll not be getting the chance to upset Meira any more than ye’ve already done. From what I understand, ye be the reason it’s in question on if Meira will be needin’ me services in the coming months.” The woman’s words didn’t make any sense at all until a servant bustled out of Meira’s chambers with a basket on their hip. A basket full of bloody silk sheets. It wasn’t until his heart stumbled in his chest that Thor understood exactly how much he’d actually fucked up. 

“Tell.. me she’s okay. Please. Tell me that Meira will be okay.” The woman regarded him for several long moments, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be found wanting at the end of her assessment. Finally she nodded sharply, almost to herself, before she spoke again. 

“Aye, she’ll live. She’ll not be ‘okay’ if she loses the babbie. But the healers are doin’ all they can to save it now.” She looked him over again, sniffed hotly before marching back into Meira’s chambers. The door closed with a finality that took the starch out of Thor’s knees. It only took a couple of steps for him to be able to slump to the floor next to her door, but they seemed like the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life. 

Thor sat there, on the floor outside her chambers for hours. He desperately tried not to listen to the sobs and pleas coming from the other side of the door. He was careful to tuck his feet out of the way when another healer in lavender, or a midwife in robin’s egg blue rushed passed him. He must have dozed at some point, or fell into a trance because before he knew it, a strongly built man in red splattered lavender was clearing his throat. It was only then that he heard the drum of heavy rain on the roof, in the distance he heard a heavy crack of thunder. 

Thor blinked up at him stupidly for a moment, before the other man came into focus. Something about the way he was looking at Thor made the Prince want to shrink in on himself. After a moment or two, the man gestured to the door next to Thor in a way that reminded him forcefully of Natasha. 

“You can see her now, but do not upset her. I do not believe I will be able to keep the child in her belly a second time tonight. I will personally throw you out on your head, Prince of Asgard or not, if you cause her any more stress.” With the final word, the man turned and stalked down the corridor, deeper into the temple. Thor could see the exhaustion in the set of the man’s shoulders, and the memory of the blood that covered his hands would haunt Thor’s nightmares for years to come. 

Rising to his feet, Thor felt every one of his thousand and more years, or perhaps it was the weight of his heart that made him move stiffly, slowly. Stepping into her chambers, a place that had been a sanctuary, a balm to his soul, he felt none of the peace that he normally did. Quietly, with trembling fingers, he divested himself of his armor, leaving Mjolnir with it. 

The first look of Meira he had was just as heartbreaking as the last. She was curled on her side in bed, her pale skin a sickly grey, her hair seemed dull, her eyes a bright puffy read. Her delicate fingers were clutching a pillow against her stomach, as if it would protect her from some blow. 

Thor’s focus was so caught on Meira, that he didn’t notice the last servant slipping past him and out of the room until the chamber doors closed. The sound knocked Thor out of his out head and he strode across the room to the bed, his heart in his throat. But he didn’t reach out to touch her, instead, he dropped to his knees at the side of the bed and dropped his gaze to the floor. 

“Thor?” Meira’s soft voice was broken and horse, thick with tears. Thor shuddered but fought to swallow the lump in his throat. 

“I’m sorry. It’s not enough, I know it’s not enough. I’m not asking for your forgiveness, because I don’t deserve it. I will spend the rest of my very long life earning that forgiveness, I don’t care what it takes.” Brilliant blue eyes looked up at her through his lashes and his breath caught in his chest at the look of wonder on her face. He held very still when one of her hands shook loose from the blankets and reached out to touch his hair gently. 

“You came back?” Her voice was stronger, but still just as thick as before. Thor lifted his head to look at her, making sure to not dislodge her hand when she fingered the braid just behind his ear. Gently, Thor cupped her hand and leaned into her touch, feeling like he was taking something that didn’t belong to him. 

“I was a fool to leave in the first place. I was a fool to think for even a moment that you would ever betray me. I will never be able to fix the hurt I’ve caused you. To distress you so much that you nearly lost the…” His voice broke, and he stopped the movement of his free hand. Thor was certain that he’d been reaching out to touch her stomach, something that he had no right to do. Not after everything that had happened. 

Meira watched him for several moments before grabbing his hand where it now rested on the edge of the bed and pulling on it. Thor furrowed his brow in confusion, but let her drag him forward until she could lay his palm against her lower belly. 

“Come cuddle with me.” Her voice was almost her own again, that same confident alto with a hint of laughter in it. Thor jerked away from her, the movement not ending until he was on his feet and had taken two steps away from the bed. 

“Meira…” He didn’t know what he was going to say, because she interrupted him. Her face showed her annoyance, and he couldn’t help but smile softly at the fire that filled her. 

“Thor. I may never be able to forgive you for walking out like that. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t view you as my friend. And the fact that you came back shows me that you regret your actions. Now, I am cold, tired, and want nothing more than to sleep. We will figure out everything else in the morning.” They stared into each other’s eyes for nearly a minute before Thor sighed and began to strip out of his clothing. He missed the look of triumphant glee on Meira’s face when he bent to remove his boots. 

She was sitting against the headboard, eating a piece of dark bread coated thickly with butter and topped with a slice of what smelled like chicken when he straightened. He smiled softly at seeing her eat and took a moment to toss a couple more logs onto the fire and pull the thick quilt out of the chest at the end of her bed. Moving through the room, he doused the few candles that were still lit and crawled into bed with her. A goblet was balanced on her drawn up knee, and when Thor took it so it wouldn’t spill he found chilled fruit juice. 

Meira didn’t say anything, she simply finished her snack, brushed the crumbs from the bed and her hands. When she took the juice from him and drained it he slid down in the bed and waited for her to settle. She moved gingerly, as if something hurt, as she laid herself over his chest and forcefully shoved her face into his throat. 

“I really am sorry,” Thor whispered several minutes later. He could tell that she wasn’t asleep yet, her breathing hadn’t settled into the deep evening rhythm. Silence reign for long enough that he didn’t think she was going to say anything before she replied. 

“I know you are. It’s not enough, not nearly enough. But I really can’t think about it right now. I  _ can’t  _ get upset over it again. I won’t risk the babe, not even to fix us.” Her voice was soft, and… not quite empty… maybe tired. Thor couldn’t figure out why it sent a thrill of fear down his spine. Instead of trying to figure it out right then, he instead turned his attention to finger combing her hair out into a sheet of shimmering silk over the top of the covers. It was only then that he realized that the fur blanket that normally dominated her bed was gone. 

_ ‘Will they be able to get the blood out? _ ’ he wondered to himself and then had to catch his breath because it was her blood, Meira’s blood that they would need to soak out. And the baby’s. 

Thor buried his nose into her hair and breathed slowly to push away the panic that rose up. It wasn’t until that moment that he realized that Heimdall had been right. He did want this baby, he wanted it so fiercely that the thought of it dying before it was born was enough to have cold sweat break out across his whole body. 

Meira mumbled something soothing and groggily stroked her hand down his arm as his heart rate picked up under her ear. Then she was asleep. Thor laid awake, holding her close to him as he tried not to think about what his father would say about Meira and the child. It was not a conversation he was looking forward to, but if this ball of anxious worry in his stomach was anything to go by, it was an argument he couldn’t afford to lose. 

Thor didn’t realize he’d worried away the night until colored fire sparked over his eyes and dazzled him. Focusing on his surroundings once again, he found that Meira hadn’t moved at all, though that wasn’t something unusual. He watched as the colors danced over her hair, lighting fires that danced, and he finally allowed himself to admit it to himself. Something that had made him cling to Jane with both hands, in the hopes that he could redirect these feelings elsewhere. 

Thor was head over heels in love with the woman in his arms. He knew, knew that she could never love him in return, that it was just a part of who she was. Just as it was a part of Sif that she wasn’t attracted to men, like Fandral was attracted to anything with a pulse. Meira didn’t love, not in a romantic way. 

But that had never mattered to him, and would never matter to him. Just as it didn’t matter to him about Sif and Fandral. No, it was foolish because he was the Prince of Asgard, he could never marry for love, could never let love dictate his future. 

Meira grumbled and shifted, and Thor loosened his grip on her, realizing only then that he’d been clinging to her tightly. Thor knew that if there was a chance that she’d agree to marry him, something he was pretty certain she wouldn’t agree to, he’d move the whole of the Nine Realms to make it happen. And that frightened him in a way that no battle ever had in the past. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor goes shopping with Clint and Natasha. Fluff and stuff happens.

The following weeks found Thor desperately trying to juggle his duties to Asgard, to the Avengers, and to Meira. The argument with his father had been one of the worst to date, but Thor had prevailed. Or more, his mother had grown sick of the constant yelling and had stepped in. 

Odin hadn’t wanted Thor to acknowledge the child as his. Thor had come very close to striking his father at that moment, for the first time in his very long life he had wanted to inflict bodily harm to Odin. He’d managed to restrain himself, by the teeth of his skin, but it was a recurring urge. 

Frigga had stepped in not long after and told Odin exactly where he could shove his thoughts. She was just happy to finally have a grandchild on the way. Thor had gifted a very fine ring he’d found on Midgard to his mother after that. A rich red ruby cut into a heart and surrounded by perfect diamonds. Frigga wore it proudly on her right index finger, and Odin sniffed every time he saw it. 

Thor spent as much time as he could with Meira, desperate to find some way of redeeming himself in her eyes. They hadn’t really talked about what had happened, and Meira was acting as if nothing was wrong. Except for those moments where she would look at him with such sadness in her eyes. 

He was at the Avengers Tower on Midgard, standing in the communal kitchen when something occurred to him. Clint had just hopped up to sit on the counter, sipping coffee out of a tankard. Clint… who was married… and had three children. 

“Clint? May I ask your advice about something?” Thor asked it softly, concentrating on not crushing the bottle of water in his hand. It was a good way of keeping his emotions in check because his heart was suddenly pounding against his ribs. Clint was studying him, his eyes very like the bird he was named for as he regarded the prince. Finally, Clint seemed to make up his mind, because he set his drink to the side and focused all of his attention on Thor. 

“Sure, Big Guy. If I can help I will.” Clint didn’t interrupt Thor as he gave a brief explanation of his relationship with Meira. But when the prince got to the part that he was dreading the knowing smile fell from Clint’s face and a stormy look replaced it. 

“You needn’t say it, I know I have been a fool. I am doing what I can to fix it, to make up for it. But… I do not know what else I can do.” Thor was leaning back against the island, his arms crossed, staring at his feet as he spoke. The room was silent for several seconds before a voice spoke from behind Thor. He jerked to his feet, pivoting to face the new person because he hadn’t sensed anyone coming up behind him. 

“Chocolate and groveling. It won’t fix everything, but presents are always a good start.” Natasha said, her arms crossed and her hips cocked. Thor knew that he had been found wanting with her this time, she made no effort to hide the disdain in her gaze. 

“I’m with ‘Tasha on this one. Chocolate and a soft stuffed toy for now. Foot rubs, as many as she wants, and don’t make her ask for them as she gets further along, just do it. Get her things that show you care for her, and gifts for the baby.” Clint lifted his drink back to his lips and then grunted and recoiled at the first sip. Thor took a deep breath, watching out of the corner of his eye as Clint hopped off the counter and shoved the coffee into the microwave. He tried not to smile at Clints grumbles over ‘cold coffee’. 

Natasha stood there, her foot tapping ever so slightly against the tiled floor as she gazed at Thor. After a moment she nodded sharply. 

“Go get into some civies. There’ll be no hiding you completely, but please try. You and I are going shopping. You have 5 minutes to meet me in the lobby.” With that, she turned on her heel and marched from the room. Thor blinked after her for only a few seconds before racing for his apartment to change out of his armor. 

It took him exactly two minutes to get out of his armor and into a pair of jeans, t-shirt and flannel overshirt. Bucky and Jane found him sock footing it down the corridor toward the elevator, his boots held in one hand, the other had a comb and a hair tie. Jane had been tucked under Bucky's metal arm, one arm around his waist, the other holding a tablet that she seemed to be engrossed in. 

Bucky tugged her back and toward the wall as Thor dodged around them, waving his comb at them as he continued on. 

“Lady Jane! Ser Bucky! I’m sorry! I am meeting Natasha in the lobby to go shopping, I will catch up with you after I return!” It had taken him awhile to get used to calling him Bucky, instead of James. It wasn’t until he’d listen to Darcy rant about deadnaming, and the right to choose what someone was called that he realised that something like that could be harmful to a person. Since then he’d been careful to call people what they wanted. 

Thor skidded to a stop in the elevator and grinned at Natasha when she stepped on after him. She blinked at him, but simply sighed and pressed the button for the lobby. On the way down Thor pulled on his boots and tied them, and then used the mirrored walls of the elevator to pull his hair back into a low tail, leaving the braid behind his left ear to hang. 

Natasha glanced him over once he was done, and handed him a pair of sunglasses. He slipped them on his face and fell in beside her as she swanned out of the building. It wasn’t particularly bright outside, but the sunglasses helped hide his identity until he could slide into the back seat of the town car waiting on the curb for them. Clint was already in the car, sitting shot gun and talking animatedly with the driver. 

“You are a selfish fool, and you and I will resolve this in our own way on the training mat.” Natasha’s voice was soft, silk wrapped around a blade sharper than any Loki had ever wielded. Thor sighed but nodded, it wasn’t as if he disagreed with her. 

“Nothing less than I deserve, I’m certain.” He spoke just as softly as she had, for no other reason than to not interrupt the story Clint was telling the driver in the front seat. 

“It’s good that you know already. But for now, tell me of her.” Natasha gave him a slight smile with this, and Thor relaxed a touch. She was upset with him but was still a friend. 

“You remind me of her in many ways. Graceful, poised, with a streak of mischief that both gets you into and out of trouble. Deadly, each in your own way. She has been my dearest friend for more than three centuries.” Thor continued to tell Natasha of Meira, of the steel in her backbone, and that laughing glint in her eye until they reached their destination. 

Natasha and Clint were greeted by name by the plump woman behind the counter of what could only be a chocolatier. The scents were heavenly, and he stood to the side of the door and basked for a moment before following Natasha. 

Thor took his time, trying several of the treats on offer before he was able to assemble a box. There was so much to choose from, and he was careful to consult with the woman who worked there about if they were safe for pregnant women. Before he knew it he was passing over the Midgardian money for the sweets and was carefully taking the bag from the woman. Clint sat in back with them this time, and as soon as they were on the way again he asked what Thor had picked. 

“I have peppermint patties with dark chocolate, raspberry truffles with dark chocolate, some kind of pie truffle in white chocolate, peanut butter cups, sea salt caramel truffles, strawberry slices dipped in dark and white chocolate, and a bar of dark chocolate with hot chili powder mixed in. I wanted a wide selection for Meira to try. And I’ll return for more when I have a better idea of her tastes for such things.” Thor was somewhat at a loss over it all and had been fighting a feeling of being overwhelmed nearly the entire time they had been in the shop. But he was glad he’d persevered because he was certain there had to be at least one there that Meira would like. 

They spoke of Clint’s children as the driver wove them through the traffic. Thor didn’t really care where they were going, he was simply enjoying spending time with Clint and Natasha. He hadn’t realized how amazing it would feel to pamper Meira in this way. He’d given her small gifts in the past, but for some reason, this seemed more to him. Maybe… maybe it was different because he’d finally admitted how he felt for her. That these gifts meant something completely different this time. 

Clint stood gaping next to the car when they parked at their next stop. He blinked several times before turning to glare at Natasha. 

“You brought us to Toys R Us? With  _ him _ ? Are you CRAZY?!” Thor was baffled at the look of pure horror on Clint’s face. But not even confusion could stop him from chortling when Natasha grabbed him by the nose and began to lead him into the shop when the archer would have dove back into the car. 

The store was massive. In a way that Thor hadn’t known structures on Midgard could be. There were rows upon rows of toys of all kinds, and that was only half the store. The other half held rows upon rows of things for infants. Equipment that Clint shoed Thor away from (You don’t have a car, Big Guy. You don’t need a car seat.), nappies, blankets and clothing so tiny that Thor could hardly believe that any person could fit into them. In the end, Thor walked out of the store with two tiny blankets, softer than the fur on a baby rabbit, and a purple stuffed dragon with shimmery silver wings. 

Clint was still marveling over the fact that three Avengers had managed to go shopping in a children’s store unaccosted when they pulled into the underground parking garage at the tower. Thor insisted on carrying the packages as they made their way back up to the communal floor, smiling as Natasha tried to explain to him that it was after 6 in the evening on a school day. Most, if not all of the parents would have been at home with their children, and the employees cared more about how soon they’d be going home than about who was shopping there. 

The three of them found Steve, Tony, Bucky, and Jane in the kitchen, discussing some current event that Thor had missed. He had a lunch date in three days with Darcy, and he knew that she would fill him in on it then. For now, he was itching to get back to Meira. He’d been away for nearly four days this time and had been out of contact with Asgard for two with this latest mission. 

Thor passed over the two bags that Clint had gotten at Toys R Us, plus the one from the chocolate shop, and gave Natasha her bag of chocolates before he bowed to them. 

“Thank you both for helping me with this. I will keep you informed of the outcome. For now, I think I’d best get back. I’m certain that Meira will appreciate the blankets for the baby.” Thor smiled at Natasha and nodded when she lifted an eyebrow his way. He knew that they still had a bloody date on the training mats, but it would keep for now. Clint shook his head and handed back one of the bags from Toys R Us. Inside it was a large cream tub of “Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter”, according to the label. 

“Laura swears by that stuff. Says it helps with the itching.” He didn’t wait for Thor’s reply, simply waded into the conversation with the other four. Natasha glanced into the bag, nodded and wandered off toward her apartment. Thor returned to his apartment to don his armor and retrieve Mjolnir. He didn’t bother to do more than wave to his friends on the way out to the terrace to call for Heimdall. The door was swinging closed behind him when he heard a screech from inside. 

“WAIT! WHAT BABY!?” He felt bad for calling for Heimdall just then, but he really did not want to take the time to explain to Jane about Meira, or the child. He just wanted to get back to them as quickly as he could. 

Heimdall sent him straight to Alfheim, but not to the grassy field that he normally did. Instead, Thor found himself several miles from the temple, and Loki stood in front of him in full armor. After everything that had happened with the Dark Elves, and Loki’s charade at being dead being revealed as a ploy to allow Odin to spend time with Frigga as she recovered, it felt as if the two of them were brothers once again. No matter the circumstance of their births. But to find him here of all places, and to have Heimdall send him so far away from the temple… dread clutched at Thor’s chest as he took a step toward Loki and opened his mouth. Loki spoke before he could ask the question burning up his throat like bile. 

“Raiders have invaded the temple. They have most everyone there as a hostage, including Meira. They are no real threat to us, but I thought perhaps a more… delicate… approach was needed.” Loki grinned wickedly when Thor gently laid his shopping to the side, tucked under a bush he’d be sure to remember, then swung Mjolnir up into his fist. 

“What kind of wicked fun do you have in mind, Brother?”

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor races to rescue Meira, and then asks a question she's not prepared for.

The look of glee in Loki’s eyes was enough to have Thor grinning a feral smile in return. Loki’s plan was a good one. They would disguise themselves and walk right in the front door, the disguising part being all up to Loki, of course. Thor knew that the best thing they could do is get as close to Meira as possible before the Raiders knew what was happening. But it rankled him, not being able to simply fly in there and start knocking heads with Mjolnir. 

“First. I need you to get upset.” Loki was bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, the same battle lust showing in his face as was pounding through Thor. 

“Loki, I am already well past that.” Thor adjusted his grip on Mjolnir, desperately clinging to control of his magic. He didn’t want to alert the raiders that they were there. What if they hurt someone because they knew he was coming? What if they hurt Meira?

“No. I need you to rage and let that Berserker side of you fuel a storm that will have those raiders cowering away from the windows and trembling at the crashing of thunder.” Thor took a step back, marveling at the passion in Loki’s voice. He was still somewhat of a loose cannon after everything that had happened. He still refused to speak of what happened after he fell from the rainbow bridge and before he appeared on Midgard through the portal the Power Stone had opened. Thor had glimpsed scars that Loki had not gained as a child on him once after a hard training session. Scars that were puckered, swollen and an angry red. New scars. 

“Why? Loki I have been fighting to keep that from happening since the moment you told me of the raiders.” Thor shook his head and looked toward the temple. There was a thick stand of trees between them and the structure, but Thor’s eyes were still drawn in that direction. 

“Because Brother. It will give your lady hope.” Loki breathed it out in a sigh, a soft whisper. This was the Loki Thor had known growing up. The compassionate man who was more concerned about others than himself. This was his brother, and he was more concerned that Meira have hope than any tactical advantage keeping the storm at bay would give. 

Thor loosed his magic between one breath and the next and the sky shuddered. Thick black clouds rolled in like a wall of ink tripping across the sky. Lightning lit up the clouds, outlining nightmarish shapes in their depths, and the thunder that rolled was almost continuous. It rattled even Thor’s ribs and stole the breath from his lungs in a rush of Berserker rage.

“I’m coming Meira. Just… hold on.” Thor murmured it like a prayer as he clung to the image of shining silver hair and amethyst eyes to keep his mind clear and sharp. He would allow the rage to flow through his veins, to strengthen his resolve and quicken his reflexes. But he would not allow it to cloud his mind so much so that he forgot why he was there. 

“You really care for her, don’t you?” Loki didn’t bother shouting, simply spoke in a wonder filled voice as he watched the storm rage and snarl above them. But the rain hadn’t started yet, and though the clouds had swept in with a breathtaking speed, the wind wasn’t blowing. The world was still and silent, save for the thunder, waiting for that moment where the other shoe would drop and hell would reign. 

“I love her.” Was all Thor said, and that was the tipping point. With a crack like a bull whip the heavens opened. Rain fell in sheets of icy needles, and the wind whipped it sideways and under the protection of the trees. Not a drop touched the brothers, and the wind swirled around them, not even tugging at their hair. Loki hummed in reply to Thor’s revelation, pursed his lips and shrugged, trying to hide the fear at seeing Thor’s eyes fill with lightning. 

“And… I’m going to need you to leave _ her _ here. Your hammer does not like me, and will not allow me to cloak it in illusions.” Thor was not happy with this, but he sighed and tucked Mjolnir under the bushes with his shopping. He’d chosen well because not even the storm touched them there. The bags were still bone dry, as was the ground under the bushes. Gesturing Loki ahead, Thor fell in step behind him as they set off at a trot toward the temple. 

Loki and Thor crept as close to the temple as they could under the cover of the pouring rain. Even though Thor kept the rain from soaking the two of them, the sentries the raiders had left on watch were useless. Huddled into their cloaks and their broad brimmed hats as they tried to stay dry in the driving rain, they missed Thor and Loki slinking passed their posts. When they got close enough to the temple, Loki cloaked them in his illusions and they walked through the doors like kings… or perhaps shuffled through the doors as two soaked and miserable raider sentries. Which is what they looked like. 

They entered the dining hall of the Temple just as a familiar and beloved voice spoke out reproachfully. 

“Do you know who sired this child, you piece of filth?” Thor had to stop himself from breaking into a sprint toward her. He knew that if he did anything to draw too much attention Loki’s illusion would fail and Meira was glaring hotly at a raider who had her by the throat. He would never reach her in time.

“I don’t much care who you’ve spread your thighs for, slut. All I care about is that you spread ‘em for me and my boys.” Meira snorted out a laugh when the raider flinched at a series of rapid lightning strikes and the boom of thunder that followed. Thor took a moment to wonder if the windows would stand up to the noise because they rattled in their frames. 

“Not afraid of a little lightening are you? Not that it matters, you’re nothing more than a corpse that hasn’t quit breathing yet.” The raider raised his fist as if he was going to strike her, and Thor blanked. He never did remember how he crossed the length of the room, but he came back to himself to find the smelly little man dangling from his fist by his throat. Thor took several deep breaths before turning to look at Meira. Who was standing there like a queen, back straight, chin up, eyes cold as she regarded the sniveling man in Thor’s clutches. She was also wearing only a thin green nightgown, that clung to her swelling belly and covered less than his shirts did on her. They’d taken her from her bed. 

“My Lady, I believe that his fate is yours to decide.” Thor’s voice was deep, and he watched Meira’s pupils dilate just a little bit at the danger in it. He wasn’t certain if it was fear or lust.

“What right does she have to decide such a thing?! She’s nothing but a slut!” The raider wheezed it out, barely able to make noise through the grip Thor had on his throat. Thor grinned at the man, more a baring of his teeth than a smile. 

“She carries my heir in her belly, and is the next Queen of Asgard in her own right.” The raider’s face flushed a violent red and then drained of all color so quickly that Thor found it fascinating. But he quickly turned his attention to the problem at hand. Turning back to Meira, who was looking at him with an expression he couldn’t quite puzzle through at that moment.

“Shall I take his breath away, as you suggested? Or was there another threat I need make good on that I did not hear?” He asked it sweetly as if he was asking her what she wished to eat. She blinked at him and then turned to regard the moron in his grip. 

“I will take great pleasure in spitting on your pyre. Make it quick, Thor, if you please. I’d like to return to my nap.” Her voice was droll, and she turned to look out over the rest of the dining hall. Thor didn’t bother to turn back to the raider, he simply crushed the man’s throat in his hand and dropped him to twitch on the floor. It was only then that he turned to take in the rest of the room, and grinned hotly at Loki when he found his brother cleaning one of his many blades on the grubby trousers of one of the raiders. Not a single one still stood in the hall, and he spotted a few bodies in the doorway that could only be the sentries they’d passed. The battle had been a fast, but bloody one from the looks of it. 

A soft mewling noise sounded from beside him and Thor turned just in time to cradle Meira in his arms when she broke. Great wracking sobs shuddered her, while one of her hands lay protectively over their child and the other gripped Thor’s wrist like a vice. Somehow, her back ended up pressed into his front. One of his hands cradled her belly, and the other lay flat against her upper chest, holding her to him. 

“Peace, Meira. You are safe now, I promise.” He held her that way, close and safe as he whispered into her ear soothingly. Before long the same healer who’d told Thor off before was standing in front of them. When Thor met his eyes, the man cupped Meira's cheek, careful to let her see the movement before the touch landed. Pale purple light sparked around his fingers before disappearing. 

“She is too stressed. The babe is fine, for now. But it is best if we get her into bed, and asleep.” The healer stood, glanced around the room and then motioned Thor to follow him. Thor lifted Meira into his arms gently, careful of the hard armor he wore. The look he gave the room was a courtesy, he had no intention of staying to help, far more focused on Meira. She made a soft broken noise against his throat before taking a painful grip on his hair at the back of his head, turning her body toward him as best she could and clinging. He clutched her closer and followed the healer. 

Thor felt like a rock in the middle of a fast flowing river for some time, as healers and midwives and servants fluttered around not only Meira but the temple as well. He could hear Loki’s voice on occasion, when the door opened, helping to direct the cleanup. Thor trusted his brother to his chosen chore and was relieved to be allowed to care for Meira instead. 

Meira didn’t let go of him, even after she’d finally fallen into an exhausted sleep, her fingers still clutched at whatever part of him she could reach. The last words on her lips had his heart tripping in his chest because she had more faith in him than he had in himself at that moment. 

“I knew you’d come, I knew you’d save us.” Thor sat with her, not able to relax enough to remove his armor, until there was a soft knock on the doorframe into her sleeping quarters. Looking up, Thor found Loki standing there, covered in dust, blood, and rain. He also had an oil cloth wrapped bundle in his hand. 

“I brought your shopping, though your hammer is as cantankerous as always. She refused to allow me to bring her to you.” Loki held up one hand, to show the angry blister on his palm. Mjolnir had bitten him when he’d tried to touch her. Smiling at his brother, Thor took the bags from him after he’d removed the wrapping. They were still dry, thankfully. Loki shook the cloth out and hung it on the rack standing next to the roaring fire as Thor dug through the bags until he found the stuffed dragon. Brushing it against his cheek once again, marveling at the softness, he tucked it in against Meira’s belly, against his unborn child. 

“Thank you, Loki. For your help today.” Thor didn’t turn to look at the other man, his eyes caught on Meira’s peaceful face. She was still too thin, but she’d gained a portion of the weight she’d lost early in the pregnancy back. Loki’s hand laid against his shoulder for a moment before he spoke. 

“I did not do it for you, Brother. I did it for my niece.” The hand slipped away, and the chamber door opened and then closed soon after. And they were alone, in a bubble of peace and calm as the rain continued to fall outside. The thunder and lightning had stopped soon after Thor had seen Meira safe in her own bed. But he didn’t bother to try and stop the rain entirely. A good down pouring wouldn’t hurt too much. 

It was sometime during the dark of the night when Meira woke, being drawn back to awareness by a deep rumble of talk. She found the source when her eyes blinked open because it was hard to miss Thor’s large hands framing the swell of her baby belly. Or his blonde head laid in her lap as he murmured to the child growing inside her. 

She gazed down at him for several minutes, not bothering to try and make out what he was saying to the child. It was between father and child in any case. Delicate fingers reached out and brushed against a stubbled cheek and Meira felt her breath catch in her throat when those too-blue eyes met her own. There was such love and tenderness there that it frightened her just a little.

It was then that she noticed the bright purple and silver toy tucked in against her hip. Pulling it from where it was caught under one of Thor’s arms as an excuse not to face the emotions in his eyes, she gasped at the softness under her fingers. 

As the toy unfolded in her hand she found a tiny dragon, eyes as blue as Thor’s, its wings a crinkly silver material. Meira brought it up to her face and stroked it across her cheek, humming softly in pleasure. It smelled like Thor. 

“A toy for the babe. I have other gifts as well, for you and the little one.” He spoke against her belly, his eyes never leaving her face as he kissed her there twice. Meira caught his eyes again and felt her emotions jump up into her throat and fill her eyes. She’d opened her mouth to forgive him, to thank him for saving her, for giving her the incredible gift of their child, but nothing came out. And when she didn’t say anything, he crawled up her body to press a kiss to her chin. The next words out of his mouth sent shock and fear streaking down her spine. 

“Marry me, Meira. Be my wife.” 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor and Meira discuss his proposal, and Meira discovers chocolate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of the most difficult chapters to write. I struggled with it so hard.

“You… can’t mean that.”  Meira whispered, her brows knitting together as she stared up at him. Thor sighed and rolled to lay next to her. No matter how much he wanted to keep touching her, he wouldn’t pen her in and make her feel intimidated. 

“I do, Meira. For a lot of reasons, some of which you don’t want to hear. But the one that matters most is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” His hands itched a little, and he gave into the urge to reach over and lay one of them on her belly again. He couldn’t seem to stop touching that small rounded area. She was just barely starting to show and was small enough still that his large hand covered the bulge entirely.

“Thor, you should marry someone who can love you… the way you deserve.” Meira’s voice was small, even as she scrambled to sit up in the bed. Though it made him sad, he let his hand dropped to the mattress next to her. He was pleased to see that she didn’t let go of the dragon, instead, she was clutching it to her belly. Her words, however, had him taking a deep breath to keep from shouting at her. 

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Meira. And I’m a prince. Do you really think that whatever marriage my father forces me into will have any kind of love in it? At least with you, I’d have a friend as my partner.” This time, Thor rolled off the bed and began to pace. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Meira quickly smother the smirk that attempted to show. He didn’t pace often, but when he did she always found it funny. 

“Thor, prince or no, you still deserve more than one broken slut for a wife.” She muttered it, one of her hands cradling her belly again. This time Thor couldn’t stop the anger that rose at her words. 

“Meira! You are not broken! There is nothing wrong with you!” He stopped shouting at her scoff and tried to think of a better way to go about this. After three more turns on the rug at the end of her bed, he lowered himself to his knees next to her. Reaching out he laid his hand over her own on her belly.

“On Midgard, they have many words that aren’t known to the rest of the realms. Many of them are words that don’t translate with Allspeak, and one of them applies to you. It’s Aromantic.” Meira stared at him, trying to parse out what it was he was trying to say to her. Thor looked away from their hands and back up to her as he said the next bit. “A person who is Aromantic is a person who cannot feel romantic love. It’s a scale, a spectrum of course. Everyone is different. But don’t you see, Meira. They have a word about what you are, there are hundreds of people on Midgard just like you.”

Meira stared at him, tears welling in her eyes as she tried to understand that she wasn’t the only one who felt like this. It had taken her nearly a century after meeting Thor to realise what was happening. She felt as if, of everyone she had ever spent time with, Thor was one she should have been able to love. But it just wasn’t there. 

“There’s nothing wrong with me? I’m not…” A sob tore out of her throat and Thor surged back up onto the bed to cradle her as she broke down and cried. He worried for the babe, but he allowed her this release. It had to be a massive feeling of relief, to spend hundreds of years thinking that you were broken, that something was wrong with you, only to find others just like you. 

Thor shifted them until he was sat back against the pile of pillows, Meira laying on her hip between his legs. Her arms slid around his waist as she stuffed her face into his throat. He was glad then that he’d removed his armor while she slept. Armor wasn’t easy to cuddle with after all, though her tears wetting his bare chest made his heart squeeze. 

He held her there against him, finger combing her hair as she cried. Memories filled his mind of them, from the moment he’d first met her all those years ago, to the moment he realised she was his friend. Thor remembered splash fights in the lake, remembered lying in her bed as they read to each other, remembered that feeling of being able to fully relax around her. It was something he couldn’t do around even the Warriors Three or Sif. Not even his mother any longer. They all expected more from him than he could sometimes give. He could only hope that he had the same calming effect on Meira. 

“I forgive you, for walking away. I should have weeks ago, but… it hurt so much to have you think I’d betray you like that. You’re… you’re my only friend Thor. I have clients and everyone else here at the temple, but you’re the only one who sees me.” Meira’s voice tickled his throat, but they made his heart swell. He tightened his grip, just a little around her shoulders. 

“It’ll take longer for me to forgive myself. I hate that I hurt you like that, I know you’d never betray me. And, Meira… of course I see you. I can’t help it, you burn brighter than a sun.” Thor bumped her head with his chin until she looked up at him, where he could kiss her gently. She melted into him for just a moment before pulling away. He let her go, wondering what he’d done wrong, until he saw the blush spreading across her cheeks. 

“Thor…” Her voice was so broken, and he lamented that perhaps he’d pushed her too far with the proposal. But he’d meant it, he wanted her next to him for the rest of his life. Thor pressed against her shoulder gently, and she turned to face away from him. She sat between his drawn up knees, her legs akimbo as he gathered her hair and began to braid it slowly. 

“I have no soulmark, Meira. The Norns have no great love in mind for me, and after more than a thousand years I don’t think that’ll change. If I have no love to wait for, why shouldn’t I marry my best friend?” Thor whispered it softly, taking his time in separating her fall of hair out into two chunks. He laid one in front of her shoulder and then began separating the other into three. 

Meira didn’t answer him, she simply sat quietly as he plaited her hair into twin tails. He didn’t want to push her too hard, didn’t want to drive her away. The quiet stretched out around them, and Thor let the peace of it sink into him again. Some tension that had hung here in these rooms since the day she’d told him she was pregnant finally vanished and Thor felt as if he could breathe again. Like someone had finally pulled the dagger from between his ribs and he could start to heal. 

“I can’t love you the way you love me. If you’re serious about this, you have to know that.” Her voice was soft, kind, and the shifting of her shoulders told him that she was fiddling with something in her lap. He tied off the braid he had been working on and laid it over her shoulder. A slight tension told him that she’d been playing with her loose hair when he pulled it behind her. 

“I’m not asking you to, Meira. I’m asking you to be my partner, to be my Queen. To be my friend.” Thor paused once he’d made the first twist in her hair to brush his nose over the knob at the base of her neck. He knew she was scared, could see it in her shoulders. 

“Don’t answer me right now, just think on it, please.” Thor returned to braiding her hair, hoping it would help her relax. When he’d tied off the second braid and pushed it forward over her shoulder, he dug his thumbs into the muscles on either side of her spine. The deep groan she let out at the feeling had him glaring down into his lap for a moment. Now was not the time to be getting aroused. 

Attempting to tune out the reaction his body was having, he used gentle but firm pressure on the tight muscles in her shoulders. He knew enough about killing people with his bare hands to know where he shouldn’t touch her, so he focused elsewhere. She’d practically melted into the mattress before she spoke again, this time a giggle in her voice. 

“Well, I guess if I marry you it’ll get you out of whatever disaster of a marriage your father wants to force you into.” Thor snorted out a chuckle, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to bury his face into the back of her neck. She gripped one of his wrists in both her hands and laughed a little, and it set him off. Before long they were both clinging to each other as they laughed, not really knowing what it was they were laughing at. 

Meira leaned back against his chest as they sobered and Thor pressed soft kisses to her bare shoulder. It wasn’t until he spotted the stuffed dragon that he remembered the rest of his shopping. Luckily the bags were sitting on the table next to the bed. Leaning over he snagged the one from the chocolate shop.

“I got these for you, though I’m not certain where your tastes for sweets lie. So I got a selection for you to try.” Thor pulled the simple brown box out of the matching bag and set it in her lap. Meira waited until he’d returned to his position behind her before turning to the box. 

“You didn’t need to get me anything, Thor. Though I’ll not say no to sweets.” She opened the box and ran her fingertips over the chocolates. Thor curled himself around her, his large hands laid one over the other on her stomach, his chin resting on her shoulder as he looked down into her lap. 

“It’s chocolate, a Midgard treat. It’s rather popular there, many films and books made about it. I’ve tried them all, they are very good.” He didn’t see her glance toward him out of the corner of her eye because he’d closed his own. But he did hear the moan as she set the first piece against her tongue. Again he had to press arousal away at the sound, but he allowed that dark part of himself to purr with pleasure in making her so happy with his gift. 

“What’s a ‘film’?” She asked, swallowing the rest of the sweet that tasted so much like a bite of apple pie. Meira wanted to stuff all these tiny bite sized treats into her mouth, but she resisted. She wanted to savor them as well, to take her time in discovering the pleasure of them. She lifted a round flat piece and bit into it, licking her lips as the rich chocolate spread with the cool mint of the filling. 

“A moving picture that Midgardians make for entertainment. Would you like to see one? We could go to Midgard together, let you experience their culture? It is fascinating, the things they’ve come up with after their magic died.” Thor took more of her weight when she leaned further into him, happy to simply be here with her, almost like they used to be. He refused to let that unanswered question hang over them like a cloud, he was simply glad that they were getting back to what they had been before. 

“I think that’d be a good idea, your wife should at the very least meet the people who are to guard your back when you rush off to battle.” Thor’s breath stuck in his chest at the words, and when he lifted his head to look at her, she was looking at him with a grin on her face. Without thinking too much about anything other than her, he leaned forward and kissed her. 

Nothing was fixed yet, The Norns were sure to make them work for their future, but it was a future that he wanted now. He wasn’t certain that he would have been able to let Meira go even before the babe, and now with the little one… His honor would have demanded he not see her after he was married, and it would have killed a piece of him to give her up. 

Thor pulled away from her at last, panting softly and trying to fight down the urge to bury himself in her and never come out. Meira’s hand on the back of his neck kept him from pulling too far away, so her breath was spilling over his chin and throat. 

“Thor… please don’t stop. Please… touch me.” Her soft words were closely followed by her dragging him down for another kiss, and it broke whatever resolve he had to not allow his arousal to overtake him. 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex… that’s about it. They have sex.

Thor was drowning in her, her scent filled his head and made it spin. Her lips were incredibly soft under his, and her moan as he cupped her jaw sent a shiver down his spine. No matter how intoxicating her kisses were, no matter how they left him breathless, they also left him wanting more. And right now he wanted more than he had in a long time.

Gently, Thor lowered Meira onto the bed. Sliding his lips away from hers, he pressed open mouthed kisses along her jaw, nipping softly at the thick muscle of her neck. Her gasping whimpers went straight to his cock, but he ignored it. That could come later. Meira’s hands were clutching at his shoulders, trying to drag him back to her lips.

“Thor! Please!” Meira’s voice was breathless but strong. He rewarded that strength with a kiss that stole the rest of her breath, even as one of his hands came up to lay over her throat. No pressure, just a presence there that made her eyelids flutter and her body go boneless under him.

“Relax, Dear One. Let me play.” He murmured it into her ear, not at all surprised that his voice had dropped into a rumble like thunder. Meira’s soft whine made him smile, even as he slid down her body to suck a mark onto her collarbone. Thor didn’t move his hand from her throat, using his other to pull gently at the ribbon on the front of her nightgown until it fell open and her breasts were revealed. The nightgown was sleeveless, ended somewhere north of mid-thigh and was thin enough to cling to her growing belly. It was still thick enough that it was a surprise to find that she had no breast band on.

Thor took it as a pleasant thing and bent his head to her chest. He caught the edge of the night gown with his teeth and tugged gently until one of her nipples was free. The hand not laying across her throat was busy rucking that bit of green cotton up around her hips. Meira cried out brokenly when he sucked her nipple into his mouth and ran just the tips of his fingers up the inside of one of her thighs. He always loved how responsive to his touch she was.

Meira writhed under him, her hands sliding into his hair as he worked her nipple in his mouth. Gently, just an edge of his teeth to have her back bowing just when he needed it, and before she knew what was happening, her underthings were off and his fingers were sliding through the wetness between her legs. Thor trained his eyes on her face as he laid the tip of one finger against her entrance, transfixed on the expression of open need he found there.

“Fuck! Thor!” Meira nearly screamed his name when he pressed his finger inside her, all the way to the knuckle as he pulled off her nipple with a wet pop. Rising over her for a moment, careful not to lean any pressure on her throat, he watched her pleasure at his touch. Chuckling darkly, Thor dragged his hand down her body, palm flat and fingers spread until he could tug on the neckline of her nightgown. Both breasts now free, he pinched the neglected one between two fingers and plucked softly.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Dear One?” He shifted a little just until he could sit back on his heels between her spread legs. Meira thrashed under him when he pressed a second finger inside her gently, crooking both of them just right. Her lips were red and swollen from his kisses, and a pink rash had started to show around her nipple from his beard. But her eyes, her eyes were wide and locked on his face, a thin ring of nearly glowing purple around the blown out pupils. She opened her mouth to speak but only a whimper sounded. The same happened twice more before she gave up on speech and simply nodded jerkily for him.

Thor smiled at her, running the pad of his thumb across her clit, just a gentle touch. It was enough to have her arching her back again, pressing her breast into his hand and her eyes rolling into the back of her head. He loved her like this, pliable and boneless under him. Her nightgown was rucked up under the swell of her belly, something that was a constant reminder to him that he had to be careful.

Moving slowly, Thor intentionally took her up to her peak carefully. His fingers rubbed against her walls, brushing against that spot inside her that made her breath catch, using his thumb to stimulate her clit. Her nipples were swollen, and tender from hormones, so he was careful there as well. Meira had hooked her knees over his thighs, spreading herself out before him like an offering, and her hands had lifted to dig into her own hair. The braids he’s so carefully worked that shining fall into now ragged and half pulled out.

Thor watched her body tighten up when he scissored his fingers apart, and knew that she was riding the edge, knew that only a little more would have her tumbling over into a powerful orgasm. Smiling, perhaps a little darkly, he rubbed his thumb over her clit. This time it was not a soft touch, this time he used just the right amount of pressure and it took only a breath more before her back bowed, her heels dug into his flanks and she screamed out her pleasure.

Holding his thumb against her clit, Thor pressed a third finger inside her as she was shaking apart under him, and it tore a ragged cry from her throat as he felt her clamp down on them. He idly played with one of her nipples as he waited for her to come back down, not moving his other hand at all.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured it, bending to press a kiss between her breasts as her ragged panting finally slowed. Looking up along her body he caught her eyes, heavy lidded and glazed, and held them.

“If I live a million more years, I will never be able to thank you for everything you’ve given me. Not just our child, but the happiness, and friendship. The simple acceptance. It all matters more than I will ever be able to say.” Thor’s voice was thick with emotion, and Meira’s delicate hands dug into his hair, holding him to her chest when he laid his forehead against her sternum. She drew in a breath as if to speak, but didn’t get the chance as his thumb ghosted over her clit again and that breath left her in a punched out whine. He didn’t bring her to the peak slowly this time, he knew her body very well, and used that knowledge to catapult her to the edge within minutes. He turned his head as she began to shake and licked over her nipple with a broad stroke before catching it between his teeth.

“Thor… Thor, please! I’m so close! Please!” Meira cried out, her hands pulling almost painfully at his hair as he held her just on the edge of release for several long minutes. Releasing her abused nipple, Thor leaned over till his breath was ghosting over her ear.

“Then come, Meira. Come for me, drench my hand, I want you to.” He crooked his fingers and winced at the full-throated wordless scream she let out as she came apart in his arms. Thor waited just a moment, waited for that scream to quit echoing before he moved. One moment he kneeled over the top of her, three of his fingers buried in her clenching pussy, and the next he was off the bed. But he didn’t touch his pants, didn’t even think about doing it. Instead, he dropped heavily to his knees next to the bed, hooked his hands behind her knees and jerked her to him. The bed was the exact height for him to lay her thighs over his shoulders and bury his mouth against her quivering flesh.

Meira made a strangled noise at the first broad, slow lick of his tongue over her, and it drove him on. He enjoyed himself there, licking away the evidence of the pleasure he’d brought her. His nose bumped her clit occasionally, and he was careful not to let it be a hard touch. Meira was over sensitive and her legs were twitching against his ears as he indulged. Her taste had changed, it was a subtle thing, and he knew it had to do with her pregnancy. A bitter aftertaste, like the dark chocolate he’d bought for her, rich and decadent.

Thor groaned when her hands returned to his head, clutching him that much closer to her. It had less to do with his love of her hands there and more to do with her being shameless in her pleasure. It was something that had always set a fire in his blood, this powerful woman demanding he give her every drop of pleasure she deserved. When her heels dug into his back just below his shoulder blades, he focused his tongue on her clit and sank his fingers back into her, three at once.

It didn’t happen instantly, it still took work, even now to make her come with his mouth, but he loved that work. Was proud to be able to do this for her. So when her legs clamped around his ears, and her hands clenched into fists in his hair he reveled. Thor couldn’t hear her, but he didn’t need to, he could feel it as she convulsed around his fingers, as her thighs squeezed just a little bit harder against him when he sucked at her clit for a moment. He didn’t stop or slow until she started shoving at his head. Only then did he sit back on his heels and let his fingers slip from inside her.

Thor stood slowly, working at the fastening of his pants as she recovered. The worn leather slid down his legs to pool around his ankles just as her eyes blinked open to look at him. Meira stared openly, a wicked smile sliding over her face as she looked her fill.

On a whim, Thor rubbed his hand over his chest, his callused hand catching against his nipples slightly. It made his breath stutter and he knew that he was very close to losing control of himself. Meira scooted up on the bed until her legs didn’t dangle anymore, even as her eyes caught on the hand that was now slowly sliding down his belly. Something in her eyes had him continuing, giving her the show that those amethyst eyes seemed to be begging for.

Meira’s mouth fell open, her breath panting out through her lips as his hand curled around his erection loosely. Thor watched her with blazing eyes as he stroked his palm over himself slowly. His grip tightened when her tongue darted out to wet her lips, her chest heaving as she stared at him. Gripping at the base of his cock tightly to ease some of the pressure, Thor swallowed hard, trying to wet a suddenly dry throat.

“Meira… what do you want…” He didn’t finish the question because as soon as he said the word want her eyes jerked back to his and that grin was back. A moment later she’d rolled onto her belly, followed quickly by lifting her hips as she braced herself on her knees in the middle of the bed. Somewhere in that turn, she’d shimmied out of her nightgown, because it fluttered off the bed to land next to his foot. Her upper chest was lowered to the mattress, and he could just barely see one eye over her shoulder. An eye that demanded he do exactly what she was begging him to do with her body.

Chuckling lowly, Thor walked up onto the bed on his knees, his hand still curled around his dick. His other slid down her back, starting between her shoulder blades and ending as he caressed over her flank. Cupping one buttock in his large hand, he used his thumb to spread her pussy open to him. He wanted to tease a little more, but Meira made an impatient sound and wriggled her hips at him.

“Patience. I’ll not hurt you, even with this.” Thor guided his cock to her entrance and pressed gently. He kept his hand on her flank to keep her from pushing back too quickly as he eased himself inside her. Sweat broke out on his forehead and chest as he sank into her in shallow thrusts. She was whining and desperately pressing back into his hand as he moved slowly, slipping further in with every thrust.

Thor was cursing under his breath when her ass finally pressed into his hips, and he could hear the small whining noises she was making with every ragged gasp. He shifted his grip to her waist, holding her against him as he curled over her back and reached between her legs with his other hand. Softly circling her clit with two fingers, Thor waited and trembled as she relaxed around him.

Meira finally sighed and went almost limp under him, the only tension left in her body in her thighs as she held herself up. Thor rose back up onto his knees, cupped her hips in his hands and slowly pulled out of her. The groan that vibrated through Meira made him smirk down at her before he set his focus on the task at hand.

She clung to him as he pulled away, her body wanting to keep him inside, and opening to him again when he pressed forward. The slick, tight glide of him through her made him whimper and his fingers dig into her hips. He was climbing too fast, he wanted to make this last, but Thor knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back for very long. So he focused on making it good for her, shifting his knees apart just a little, tilting his hips just so, and then she was crying out every time he slipped back inside.

Thor’s eyes caught on where they connected, was transfixed by the sight of her body swallowing his dick over and over. His rhythm was slow and steady, a smooth rolling thrust that dragged across every inch of her insides. With a little bit of extra pressure against the spongy spot inside her that had her hands clenching in the blankets under her.

They lost themselves in it, in the movement and the pleasure, in each other. Meira lost track of how many times she broke apart under him, the only change in his movement a slowing as she fluttered around him, milking him. Thor rode the edge of his own orgasm for what felt like hours, his breath reducing to whimpering pants every time she came around him as he fought his release away. He didn’t want this to end.

But it had to end eventually, and it did suddenly for him. He hadn’t seen her reach between her legs to roll her finger over her clit, but this time when she came she clamped around him hard. Hard enough to punch his breath out in a grunt as the pressure forced him to come along with her. He clung to her, his hands clutching her hips against his as he curved down around her, his forehead against her spine as he shuddered. Fire raced through him, stealing his voice as his mouth opened in a soundless roar.

Thor blinked stupidly up at the canopy of the bed, not quite understanding how he’d ended up on his back next to Meira. But there he was, and there she was, laid across his chest with her face buried in his throat. The sense of deja vu was only broken by the tight swell of her belly pressing against his abs. Breathing in deeply, Thor lifted his arms to wrap around her, finding them heavy and loose jointed.

It wasn’t until the itching started that Thor was able to pull himself together enough to get up. Just as he had all those months ago, he called for a servant to bring them warm water. He cleaned between Meira’s legs gently, checking to make sure he hadn’t hurt her. She was drifting still, content to let him move her as he rubbed not only the bruise cream into her skin, but the cream that Clint had gotten for her. It smelled like beeswax and went on smoothly.

Thor hand fed her the grapes that the servant had brought, got her to drink two full goblets of water, and was pressing soft kisses to their child when her breathing evened out into sleep. Smiling, Thor cleaned himself up, left the dishes outside and crawled into bed with her. He curled around her back protectively, one hand on her stomach, the other under his head.

Their future wasn’t going to be perfect, and Thor knew that his father was going to disapprove of the marriage, no matter what either of them said to him. But if he could spend the rest of his very long existence with his best friend, it wouldn’t matter one wit how many struggles they faced.

  
  
  



	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor and Meira’s future is full of surprises, but together they can face anything.

Their daughter came into the world in the middle of a storm. No one was surprised at the raging of the weather outside, not with Thor attending the birth. Meira had insisted he be there and had refused to hear even one word of disagreement. Luckily for her, he had been set on being there for her anyway, tradition and what was ‘proper’ be damned. Perhaps he’d spent too much time on Midgard or with his mother. 

Either way, Thor squatted at the edge of the bed when his daughter came into the world. The first touch she knew was of her father, as he guided her from her mother’s body. A slimy, red, screaming tiny creature she was, though she quieted quickly when Thor lifted her to mother’s arms. Tears streamed down Thor’s face, his heart so full he could barely breathe. 

“Meira, I’d like you to meet the love of your life.” He whispered it, not intentionally, but a whisper was all he could manage with his heart in his throat as it was. Meira didn’t so much ignore him, as she was so focused on the miracle she clutched to her chest. Thor scrambled onto the bed to sit behind Meira when the tiny midwife shooed him away, happy to have his part complete. He could focus on Meira and the little one now. Meira leaned back into his chest, and Thor reached around her to touch his daughter. He used a soft towel to begin cleaning the babe, his hands trembling with emotions. 

“Hi, Elska. Oh, mommy loves you so much already. My little Elska.” Meira pressed kisses to their daughter's head, laughing breathlessly as a sudden lightning flash caught the downy hair there in a flare of metallic gold.

 

***

 

The wedding was beautiful, and just as over the top as Thor had been expecting. It was on Asgard, but he’d managed to talk his father into allowing the Avengers to be there. Thor suspected his mother had helped, but it didn’t matter to him really because his friends were all in the same place for the first time. Elska was perfectly content to chew on her uncle’s hair during the ceremony, much to Loki’s poorly hidden delight. The child refused to be held by Odin, screaming herself into hiccups every time he tried. 

Fandral flirted shamelessly with Ms. Potts and Natasha. Natasha put him in his place quickly when he grabbed her ass, and Thor was impressed that they only broke a couple of plates in the sudden, but short fight. 

Thor found out later that Tony had asked Ms. Potts for a child, and he was overjoyed to hear they were looking into adoption now. Of the Avengers, Steve was the most comfortable holding Elska, seeming to take to it very quickly. Bucky explained to him that Steve had spent time before the war babysitting to make a little extra money. From the look of want that passed between Bucky and Jane, Thor was certain there would be a babe for them soon enough. 

Natasha claimed the title of ‘Auntie Nat’ with little Elska and had brought a truly impressive number of frilly dresses for the little Princess. Thor spent the day floating in the clouds, he was so happy. 

That night, he laid Meira down in their new bed there on Asgard and was very glad that Elska was old enough now to be in the nursery. It had been a very long year as they waited for the negotiations between Meira and Odin to conclude. He spent the night and much of the following week relearning his wife’s body.

 

***

 

Thor hadn’t thought it would be such a big thing. He had underestimated how many people on Midgard felt it was their business that he’d gotten married. Yet, the same picture was plastered over the internet and on the magazines that were normally spread over the coffee table in the common living room. 

The team had taken part in a surfing competition for a charity. Tony had organized it for Oceana, a charity who was working to preserve and restore Midgard’s oceans. Tony was always looking to the future, doing everything he could to make the realm a better place for future generations, and Thor had agreed to take part to help. Meira had stayed on Asgard with Elska, neither of them wanting to put their daughter in a position for Thor’s enemies to get at her. 

A reporter had taken a flattering photo of him riding a wave, and it seemed that every person on Midgard had decided that his wedding ring was far more important than the charity that he’d been there to help. Ms. Potts had helped him draft a press release about the ring, hoping to confirm that he was married and then redirect the attention back to the good works Oceana was doing. She promised him it would blow over soon enough, even sooner if Tony succeeded in drawing the attention away with some new scandal. 

It wasn’t a scandal that did it, but a walk through the park pushing the stroller that their new adopted son slept in. 

 

***

 

Elska was just beginning to talk when Meira told him. They were walking through one of Frigga’s gardens, simply enjoying the day and each other’s company. The sun was bright enough that Meira had brought one of her many parasols for the walk, and Thor was holding it for her. As far as either of them knew, Elska was spending the day with Loki, being too young for a tutor, and her nanny had had a family emergency that took him away. 

“I’m pregnant. The healers confirmed it this morning.” She said it as if she was commenting on the flowers. Thor stared at her for several moments before it sunk in. Grinning stupidly, he pulled her into a kiss that had her panting by the time he let her go. She laughed with him when he couldn’t help himself, and they found a bench in the shade soon after so she could rest. 

Elska was excited to have a new baby sibling and Frigga was beside herself over the news. 

 

***

 

Their sons came into the world in a very similar way to Elska. Slimy, red, screaming creatures, their father being the first to touch them as he helped Meira deliver. They’d known they were twins early on, but they couldn’t truly be prepared for it. Two high strung boys were nothing like one girl, no matter how good she was at getting into trouble. 

The parents quickly learned that you had to keep a very close eye on Modi and Magni, and they needed five keepers just to limit the amount of mischief they made between them. Thor and Meira were so grateful for their lives, no matter how loud they were. 

 

***

 

The twins were barely crawling when it happened. Elska and Loki had been in the library, where he was teaching her to read. Thor had been called away to assist Meira with the boys, and he’d left Mjolnir sitting on a stack of books. 

Loki stood for several long minutes glaring at the hammer because one of those books was the one he wanted. But he didn’t want to deal with blisters today, and really didn’t feel up to the prick to the ego he took every time the damned hammer bit him. 

“I’ll take her to Daddy, Uncle Loki,” Elska said, her soft voice holding the musical lilt that her mother’s did. Over the years threads of silver had worked into her shining golden mane, and her eyes had lightened to an almost white blue, a thin dark purple ringing them. She was going to be utterly breathtaking when she came of age, but for now, she was barely a child. Loki wouldn’t say that Elska was sweet, but she was fun and loved everyone with all her heart. 

Loki hadn’t really been paying attention to what she had said until she climbed onto a chair, and then onto the heavy table. He reached for her, to put her back on the floor so that she didn’t fall, but he stopped when she wrapped both her hands around the hammer. With no visible effort at all, she swung Mjolnir up onto one of her thin shoulders and started climbing back down to the floor. It was absurd. The hammer was bigger than her head, almost bigger than she was, yet she hefted it as if it weighed nothing at all. 

Loki swallowed hard, giving his niece a strained smile when she grinned brighter than the sun at him and followed her out of the library. This little girl was going to be a force to be reckoned with as she grew, and the Trickster was incredibly lucky to be there to watch her come into her power. 

Not long after the twins were born, Odin stepped down, happy to retire and spend time with his wife and grandchildren. Thor stepped into the role as King, and though he stumbled sometimes, with Meira at his side he never fell short. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is the end. I am so grateful you all came on this rollercoaster with me, and I cannot thank you all enough for your kind words and flailings.


End file.
